Customizing Estimates FAQs

Applies to: [x] C&P Classic [x] C&P Pro [x] Job Tracker [x] C&P SQL [x] My C&P! See also:

Summary: Answers to frequently-asked questions customizing estimates in Clients & Profits. With Clients & Profits, you can customize estimates to fulfill the requirements of your agency and your clients. There are options to show more or less detail, include a contingency or not, show estimated hours or not, and much more. What kind of information should be included in the estimate disclaimer? What is a contingency? When should a contingency be a percentage of the job's total cost and when should it be a flat amount? How do we show the client as little detail as possible on the estimate? We need to include a detailed description for each task on the estimate. Where can I add this? We don't include delivery and shipping charges on our estimates, but need to have the tasks on the job ticket to bill later. How can we print the estimate correctly? I need to show the client the estimated hours in addition to the dollar amount. How can include the hours on the estimate? I have an estimate that is to be sent to a different address than the client's regular address. How do I change the address? We ask our clients to sign Proposals not Estimates. Is there any way to change the heading in Clients & Profits? How can we adjust the margins so that the estimate lines up correctly on our letterhead? Where do we have the client sign the estimate? We print estimates on a laser printer. How can we print several copies of the same estimate? Can estimates be faxed directly from Clients & Profits? Q. What kind of information should be included in the estimate disclaimer? The disclaimer shows up on all estimates, so you will want to include information that applies to all estimates. Set up a different estimate disclaimer for each type of job by choosing Setup > Job Types. Select the Est Options button. You'll want to explain some of the detail about what is included in the estimate to the client. Tell the client how many revisions are included in the estimate, how long the estimate will be good for and any additional costs that were not included such as shipping, long-distance, etc. Q. What is a contingency? A contingency helps protect your agency against minor cost overruns. When clients sign estimates that include a contingency, they are agreeing to the contingency amount. This lets you bill for slight cost overruns without preparing a change order for the client. You don't want to try to absorb these cost overruns. Q. When should a contingency be a percentage of the job's total cost and when should it be a flat amount? A contingency should be a percentage of the entire job to provide some leeway on all of a job's elements. Enter a contingency of at least 5% to 10%. A sample of Clients & Profits users polled showed that a typical contingency is 10% to 25%. A contingency is a flat amount to cover selectively a portion of the job, like printing overruns. Q. How do we show the client as little detail as possible on the estimate? In a job's Estimate Options window, there are several options for printing the estimate. Select options like "hide the amounts and only show the group sub-totals" or "hide the tasks completely and just show the groups." There's also an option to use roll-ups to combine several tasks into one task on your printed estimate. If you choose to "hide all amounts and only show a grand total," you'll usually have fairly detailed job specifications to fully explain the scope of the work. Q. We need to include a detailed description for each task on the estimate. Where can I add this? Each task on an estimate can have a task note. This large text field is shown on the estimate in italics under the task name. To add a task note, double-click on a task from the job ticket window or select the "edit task settings" button in the Estimate window's tool bar. Be sure the checkbox to "Show description on estimates, invoices" has been selected. Q. We don't include delivery and shipping charges on our estimates, but need to have the tasks on the job ticket to bill later. How can we print the estimate correctly? In a job's Estimate Options window, select the "Show zero as" option and type in a word or phrase like TBD (To Be Decided) or No Charge. Or choose to roll up those tasks into other tasks that appear on the estimate. You could also select the option to "Hide tasks with no estimates." Q. I need to show the client the estimated hours in addition to the dollar amount. How can include the hours on the estimate? In the Estimate Options window on the job ticket, select the option to "Show estimated hours." This option can be selected in the Estimate Options window for each Job Type/Spec Sheet if you want to ensure it's always selected for a certain Job Type. Q. I have an estimate that is to be sent to a different address than the client's regular address. How do I change the address? On a job ticket, choose Edit > Edit Job > Estimate Options. Edit the address that copied from the Client file. If you want to replace any changes to the address with the address in the Client file, select the "Copy Address" button. Q. We ask our clients to sign Proposals not Estimates. Is there any way to change the heading in Clients & Profits? Yes. On the job ticket, choose Edit > Edit Job > Estimate Options and change the heading to Proposal. Choose Setup > Preferences > Estimate Options to change the heading for every job. If you use Job Types/Spec Sheets to open new jobs, an Estimate heading can be customized by Job Type or change it for a specific Job Type by choosing Setup > Job Types > Estimate Options. Q. How can we adjust the margins so that the estimate lines up correctly on our letterhead? Set up the estimate margins by choosing Setup > Preferences > Estimate Options. The top, left and bottom margin can be customized. This is the only area to edit estimate margins. Q. Where do we have the client sign the estimate? Clients & Profits prints approval lines on estimates for up to three signatures. The lines include a label like Client, Account Executive, Creative Director, a place to sign your name, and the date. Choose Setup > Preference > Estimate Options to give all estimates the same approval line labels. The defaults can be customized on each Job Type's Est Options. If you need to change approval lines for just one job's estimate, then edit the Estimate Options for that job. HELPFUL HINT: The job's Estimate Options window can be opened while you're editing estimates by clicking on its toolbar button. Q. We print estimates on a laser printer. How can we print several copies of the same estimate? Up to five separate copies of an estimate can be printed by entering distribution names in the job's Estimate Options window. Then select the "print distribution copies" checkbox when the estimate is printed. A separate estimate is printed with the distribution name (such as AE, Client, Job Jacket, etc.) appearing at the bottom of the page. Set up distribution names in the Client file, then copy to each job ticket when it's opened. Q. Can estimates be faxed directly from Clients & Profits? Yes. With a modem and fax software like GlobalFax, FaxSTF, WinFax, etc. it's easy to fax estimates (and any other report) directly from Clients & Profits. Once installed, the fax acts like any other printer. To print an estimate, first make the fax your current printer then print the estimate (or report) as if you were printing it to a printer. The fax software will prompt you to select a recipient from an address list, or enter a fax number. The estimate is then faxed to the recipient.   Search the Daily Q&A database